Weather: Dry and cool, with temps rising into the 50's and sunny.

Attendance: A total of 109 people in 50 starting units.  Turnout was a bit better than normal due to the great weather.

Thanks for meet assistance:
Park District Coordination: Sharon Bond
Control setting: Ben Bond
Registration: Sharon Bond
Computer Entry: Matt Bond
Starts: Steve Barnhart
Control Retrieval: Jasper Ralinovski, Tizoc Cruz-Gonzalez, and Sharon Bond

Thanks to all for attending.  I hope everyone enjoyed their courses.  Turkey cutouts were placed at all controls on the beginner (white) course.  Hence the event name, the Turkey Hunt.

This was the inaugural orienteering event at Sweet Arrow Reserve on a brand new map.  Overall positive feedback was received about both the map and the reserve.  It has a good mix of prairie and woodlands, with a little elevation change thrown in to get the blood pumping on a few climbs.  Sure, the regions of thick honeysuckle in the wooded areas are present as they are in all midwest parks, but otherwise it's a great venue we look forward to use again.
Also through the Bellbrook-Sugarcreek Park District, this was the first time we used on-line pre-registration, and it went pretty well.  Look for us to incorporate it into our events in the future.

Congratulations to all who successfully navigated their courses.  Your success verifies your navigation ability and invites you to continue challenging yourself to improve in new terrains with new maps.

To stay current on your orienteering skills, look through MVOC's online "Getting Started" pages.  There is a plethora of information there: Skills tested at each course level, Map interpretation, Clue sheet symbol meaning, Compass use, and How to use the electronic punching system.  By March, when the Jr. Champs performance counts toward trophies, all should be adept at these skills.

Reconciling results between the Jr. Champs Practice an the Turkey Hunt may cause wonder about why there are many in the Turkey Hunt classes that are associated with schools, where one would think they should be in the Jr. Champs classes.  The reasons are varied and include:
   • The group consisted of leaders of the youth organization, or had adult navigational assistance on the course.
   • The group/individual ran a second course.  Only the first can count toward the Jr. Champs classes.
   • The group ran a course that did not have a corresponding Jr. Champs class.
For this last reason, several groups ran the green course, some quite successfully.  However for the green course, the only Jr. Champs class is for individuals.  The green course is designed and set at an expert level where any mapped feature is fair game as a control location.  Thus, those on the green course have trained on the earlier development courses, are comfortable navigating with their given tools and experience, and can test their ability in high competition.  The guiding principle focusing the expert level course at this championship on individual achievement within a team setting is to align it with Orienteering USA youth competitions, the national governing body of orienteering in the US.  Hopefully these seasoned navigators can take on the cause for their school and run individually during the spring Jr. Champs event where the large traveling trophies are on the line.

The split time list shows time spent traveling between each control.  This is a compilation of everyone's split time report they received when they finished.  For each competitor, the first row shows cummulative time, and the second row shows each leg's split time.  Leading times are in blue.

Watch for the date!  In the past this would say save the date, but this year everything is in flux.  So keep checking this web site for location and date of the 2021 Miami Valley Jr. Orienteering Championships targeted for March or April 2021.  The real trophies are awarded based on that competition's results.    Keep Training!

The next MVOC event is the Night-O at Cricket Holler Scout Camp on December 11.  It includes a Search & Destroy - O, but no potluck this year because Dayton area COVID numbers are still running high.  It's all great fun, and it's a totally outdoor activity since we're using an open shelter this year!  Check out more details on the MVOC home page.

Matt Bond
Meet Director

Jr. Champs Practice Results

Jr. Champs Practice Splits

Jr. Champs Practice Trophy Standings

Turkey Hunt Results

Turkey Hunt Splits

P.S. Look at our Facebook page for an exciting savings opportunity from Runners Plus!